TV broadcast channels are provided in several ways today. For example, a commercial TV broadcast station typically provides a TV broadcast channel comprising certain pre-programmed segments (i.e., television shows, news, weather, sports, movies, commercials, etc.) scheduled to be broadcast at certain times. Similarly, a cable TV company provides certain cable TV channels comprising certain pre-programmed segments (i.e., cable shows, news, weather, sports, movies, commercials, etc.) scheduled to be broadcast at certain times. A commercial radio broadcast station provides a radio broadcast channel comprising certain pre-programmed radio segments (i.e., music, news, weather, traffic, commercials, talk shows, etc.) scheduled to be broadcast at certain times.
Each of these sources of programmed segments are pre-programmed and scheduled by a third party, independent of the consumer, but made available to the consumer. A consumer may view a pre-programmed segment at the scheduled broadcast time or may choose to record the segment for later consumption using, for example, a VCR or audio recorder.
The consumer is able to switch from channel to channel and/or possibly indicate to the third party (e.g., a cable channel provider) that certain channels are not wanted. Also, with pay-per-view, a consumer can select certain channels with certain programmed segments to be purchased. Hotels often provide access to in-room movies and video games that a consumer may select using menu functionality on a TV screen. Again, the segments are all pre-programmed, independent of the consumer, by a third party and simply made available to the consumer. The programmed segments may be scheduled to be available at a certain time or may be available to a consumer on demand.
A personal computer (PC) may be used to select and view and/or download information from web sites on the Internet. A particular web site may be considered a channel having pre-programmed information such as articles, video files, audio files, advertisements, etc. A consumer can store a web site address in his “Favorites” menu on his PC in order to be able to find and access the web site again at a later time. The web site information is pre-programmed, independent of the consumer, by a third party and made available to a consumer on his PC via the Internet.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.